GEORGE O'GORMAN: Manning must step up, keep Giants out of 0-3 hole

Both were No. 1 picks in the NFL Draft coming out of college — Eli Manning in 2004 and Cam Newton in 2011.

The Giants’ Manning already has two Super Bowl titles on his resume, while Carolina’s Newton continues to struggle to establish himself in the league even though he’s recognized as one of the most talented and athletic QBs in the league.

Today they go head to head, hoping to lead their teams to their first win of the season.

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So who’s under the most pressure?

“We feel that we’re close,” Manning said the other day. “We feel we’re close to playing good football. We know what the mistakes are, what corrections we need to make to get better and so I think there’s still a positive energy around. We feel we can straighten it out and start playing really good football real soon.”

Manning knows it has to start today, because with next week’s game at the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs and longtime Giants’ nemesis Andy Reid as the coach, the Giants can’t afford another loss.

Manning tops the NFL in passing yards with 812 but is also first in interceptions with seven. In the losses to Dallas and Denver Manning was in position late to pull out the win.

So was Carolina in its losses to Seattle and Buffalo, but couldn’t hold fourth quarter leads.

“Obviously we could be better with our record,” admitted Newton. “I feel our team is right on the brink and with a couple more plays in the game, it’s easy for us to be 2-0. For us, it’s very encouraging where we’re at, but at the same time, we have to continue to get better.

“I thought there were some good things this year in our first two games, some positives, and we just haven’t won. We’ve been right in the games in the fourth quarter in both of them and we just haven’t performed very well at the end to give us our chance to win. I feel that everything can be fixed very quickly and we’ll do that,” promises Newton.

When he faced the G-Men last year in Week 3 Newton was intercepted three times and the Giants got over 100 rushing yards from Andre Brown and over 100 receiving yards from Ramses Barden.

Neither are with Big Blue this season — Brown scheduled back in two months from a broken ankle.

“I expect a tough team,” Manning said of his next challenge. “They’ve played two very close games that came to the fourth quarter. They had a lead last week at the very end and Buffalo had a last-second touchdown. I think they probably feel the same way. They can easily be 2-0 right now.

“We’ll be getting their best and we’ve got to expect to play our best to win,” said the Giants’ leader.

He knows that means a much better pass rush, one that has only put up one sack — by Jason Pierre-Paul who had the only Giants sack last year in Carolina.

“They have a very solid defense. JPP is a dominant player, as well as (Justin) Tuck, so you can’t go to sleep on those guys,” said Newton. “They have a very solid secondary, but for us, it’s still up to us. What we do, what we execute will determine the outcome of the game.”

What the Panthers don’t have is a veteran secondary due to injuries. It’s something Manning hopes to attack.

“I think our offensive line has done a good job in protection. I think guys are getting open, so I think it is positive if that’s something we need to go to and we have to throw it,” Manning admits. “I think if we can get a mix, it will help us out.

“We’ve had a lot of good plays these first two games. We’ve just had too many bad plays, so we’ve just got to eliminate that. But we’ve still got to go out there and play hard, play fast and do whatever it takes to get a win.

“I feel like we’ve just been one block away, or six of the guys are doing a great job and one guy is maybe missing. We’re very close to getting that back on the roll and obviously you’re playing against good defenses,” Manning admitted.

“Our offensive line has done a good job in protection. I think guys are getting open, so I think it is positive if that’s something we need to go to and we have to throw it. We feel very good about it. I think if we can get a mix, it will help us out.”

“I think we’ll run the ball better and get that going. But we’ve got to throw it better. We’ve got to keep the ball in our hands.. Our red zone has got to be better, so we’re going to work on all of those things and hopefully we’ll put a better and complete game together.”

If Carolina’s defense could hold the NFL’s best team — Seattle — to 12 points, shouldn’t it be able to shut down the inconsistent G-Men?

They’re good. They’re a really good defense and the first two games, they’ve played outstanding. They held Seattle to 12 points and did really well against Buffalo. The two-minute drive at the end and a penalty was a big part of Buffalo getting into the game in the first place. They’ve played very well. We’ve got to go out there and play our best football,” said Manning.